If you're keen on creating variations of drum beats there are a couple of ways to do it.
- Using the Duplicate/New buttons to create new scenes.
- Using the Loop Control buttons to create multiple loops on the same clip.
- Make sure Fixed Length button is unlit (off)
- Hit the Record button and start jamming [don't worry about what you're recording just go with it and get a groove going]
- Stop recording and choose your best loop then Right Mouse Click in the Clip view in Live and choose crop clip.
- Use combinations of the Double button and the Loop Length controls to create variations of your drums. You can jump arbitrarily between the loops to hear how they work consecutively.
Sorry if this all sounds quite complicated, but once you start working this way it's extremely fast.